Published: September, 2002
Author: John Andrews
Reviewed by: Chris Plumb
I had to pluck up courage to read this book. I knew from the eulogies on the cover that I might find the content ‘difficult’ to get through. And, I suspect that writing this review will be doubly hard. I even started it a couple of times – reading a few pages of wonderfully sublime prose before putting it down. Half wanting to go on, half fearful of what I may discover about myself. I think I needed solitude to read it. To be on my own. To work through any emotions that might surface, alone. Without fear of embarrassment. Without the crash of children. Without the well meaning inquisitiveness of a loved one. Today was such a day. Off work with a heavy cold and sinusitis, I had over 7 hours to myself. And it has to be said that those hours have gone in a blur. I restarted For All Those Left Behind at the beginning and, having just put it down after turning the final page, I feel slightly giddy and more than a little tearful.
You may by now be, quite rightly, asking why a book on angling should send me on such a roller coaster of emotions? Well this is more than just another book about angling. It is a book about discovery, redemption, exorcising ghosts, on examining what life means (and the meaning of life). Reading it has been quite a cathartic experience for me.
“For All Those Left Behind” is a first book from John Andrews. And I sincerely hope it will not be his last. A record executive who was made redundant from Creation Records after their heyday of the mid 90’s, Andrews re-discovers angling after the death of his father from cancer. And it is through this re-awakening that John starts to explore and re-examine his relationship with his father and by extension life in general.
The parallels with my own life are almost too close for comfort – hence my reticence in starting to read it. And the up welling of emotion that reading it has generated. My own father, a passionate angler, who took me fishing almost as soon as I could walk, died from cancer at a lot younger age than John’s. I was a child of nearly 7, my Dad, just 28. But there the differences end. It wasn’t till I was an adult, that I really grieved.
Missing him particularly, at those key moments in my own history, marriage, birth of a first grand son, my first 2lb roach. Moments when I know I’d have made him proud. I think I’ve always continued to fish to honour my dad. (And after reading this book I’m sure of it). And I finished Andrews’ book gladdened that he’d ignited that passion within me at such an early age.
I could draw many other parallels with John’s book – but they are too numerous to list so I won’t, I am, after all meant to be writing a review!!
Suffice to say this work is brilliantly written. Andrews’ has captured the essence of what angling has to offer. It is NOT a book about death, it is an exultation to life and a discovery that angling offers a window to what is important to ones own destiny.
I believe this is a major new work in angling literature. First editions will be sought after in years to come. It is a ‘must read’ for all anglers.
And if you’ve lost a father, particularly one that took you fishing as a boy then it is quite simply REQUIRED reading. Essential. “For All Those Left Behind” is the book I wish I could have written in memory of my own father. John Andrews though, has done it so much better.
“A blank is a day spent fishing without catching a fish. It seems such an inappropriate word but it’s spot on. In this state you have been wiped clean of everything you carried down to the water. You are suspended in a transcendental state. When people walk past anglers and say, ‘They must be so bored’, they don’t realise the figures before them, shivering in their old hats and boots, are as holy in feeling as a yogi on Oxford Street…
…The opposite of a blank is total euphoria. It is not the only justification for going fishing but at the time it seems like it. Once you’ve landed your chosen prey from a swim that seemed dead or an inaccessible stretch of river you are almost ready to pack it in forever. The emotion is so complete that there is a part of your brain saying, ‘Don’t go back! Get out whilst you can, you like room temperature and the remote control, urban life is everything, it is civilisation.’ But just then a voice breaks the silence, it might be yours or it might be that of your fishing companion and it will say, ‘ So what are you doing in a couple of weeks’ time then? I’ve got a Wednesday afternoon free.'”
Cover price – £12.99. Click here to check the best price for this book on Amazon.
